How come my object doesn't show up after rendering?
I want to tell you the answer is easy when I look at the image you posted. Your camera is facing the background and not the character. When you hit render you render what the camera sees and not the current view in the viewport. That's why you don't see anything. Select camera and press Numpad 0. Your view will be moved to the camera view. Now you'll see that character is not visible. Go to the bottom panel of 3D view and press View -> Navigation -> Walk Navigation. Now use the keys WASDto move your camera around until it looks at your character, and then press LMB(and not RMB otherwise your camera will reset position). Now you can press F12 to render and your character will be there.
If you still don't see it, then you need to add a lamp to your scene.